OrthoForum Presents at the 2015 National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference

On Friday, May 1, Michael McCaslin, Principal of Somerset CPAs, P.C., and Glenn Sumner, CEO of OrthoTennessee and OrthoForum President, presented at the 2015 National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference on the future of private practice. Aside from their National Annual Meeting, this conference is one of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ largest and most influential gatherings, with representation from leaders from across the country.

As orthopaedics continues to shift to outpatient care (over 70% of all orthopaedic surgery cases are now outpatient), we understand the importance of evaluating how private practices currently operate and how to productively face challenges as we move toward an evolving care delivery model for musculoskeletal services.

McCaslin and Sumner outlined how to address and meet those hurdles by presenting an analysis of five pillars essential to ensure the future of private orthopaedic practices, and by explaining how OrthoTennessee specifically has employed them for the continued success of its orthopaedic group.

Growth – Growth helps maintain your relevancy and competitiveness- when strong and well-coordinated practice governance structures are put in place. Dictate your role in the care delivery process. Find a management and economic model that works for you and the future of your patients. Size does matter.

Ancillaries – More efficient use of in-office ancillaries is a way to ensure your recruitment game, revenue streams, and cost per patient, allowing you to stay competitive. Now in bundled payment arrangements they are critical to better patient scheduling/patient flow, more cost effective rehab and improved care coordination through nurse navigators.

Alignment – Working with hospitals on everything from cost management, staffing efficiencies and process improvement to quality of care, care coordination, outreach and patient satisfaction ensures longevity and strengthens partnerships for an overall more streamlined, successful structure of care.

Operational Excellence – Analyzing jobs and potentially redesigning workflow can yield tremendous operational improvements. Prepare for greater use of technology by patients and for different types of providers seeing patients, in addition to evaluating resource allocation to various payer categories.

Quality Initiatives – The continued struggle to agree on a definition of what constitutes true quality hasn’t tempered the need to collect and analyze more relevant outcomes metrics. Going forward we need to be especially sensitive to payers and employers regarding those measures they believe are important, particularly those that also reduce costs.

The overarching theme of change set the stage for the well-received presentation.. For better or worse, we know the payment system is rapidly changing from fee-for-service to fee-for-value. Will we be ready?

“This is an exciting time for the OrthoForum, and orthopaedic practices in general, as we make strides to improve the structure and quality of care with initiatives like BPCI and other value-based payment arrangements. The OrthoForum is establishing itself as a thought leader in orthopaedic practice management and this presentation was further evidence of that fact,” says Sumner. “Embracing industry changes through the power of our collective practice management wisdom will benefit all private practices , helping them prepare for for innovation, quality, and growth needed in an evolving health care landscape.”

We at the OrthoForum are honored to have had the opportunity to speak to such a distinguished group of industry leaders. This is yet another example of how our relationship with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons continues to strengthen and grow.